Sean's Adventures in Flavor Town

Main Menu

Signature Dishes Tour #6 – Golden Ocean Seafood Restaurant

I was recently approached to join the Chinese Bites team to help get more exposure out about the amazing Chinese restaurants and signature dishes that make our city one of the best to eat in. This dinner was taking place at Golden Ocean Seafood in Kerrisdale. They are famous in the city for being one of the few places that still does dim sum service with carts. Our group consisted of @Sherman38, @RickChung, @Food_Queen, @Foodologyca, @AlvinKCLee, @GoodEat and @GraceCheung604.

Bring on the food!

We started with some dim sum. Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Tofu-百花玉子豆腐(炸) dumplings were a hit with me. The shrimp wasn’t to finely minced so it had nice texture to it and the tofu added a nice, creamy mouth feel.

Next up was a dim sum staple and something that I’ve read about on Sherman’s blog, Breaded Shrimp with Deep Fried Egg Plant-百花釀茄子(炸). The shrimp paste was nice but I found my piece of eggplant on the bitter side.

Next is some Haw Gow. I really liked these, the shrimp was nice and plump and the wrapper was just in the slightly sticky side.

Next we had some Stir Fried Beef with Steamed Buns-醬爆花卷牛肉. I really liked this dish a lot, the beef was nice and tender. Flavor wise it was like a garlic soy combo and the peppers and onions were also great. The steamed buns opened really easily and weren’t to sticky.

The next dish was a Steamed Tofu & Egg White with Diced Seafood & Meat-琼山豆腐. A lot of the other people I was dining with enjoyed this but I passed on it.

A meal wouldn’t be complete without some greens so I was really happy to see Dried Garlic & Enoki Mushrooms with Pea Tips-蒜子金菇浸豆苗. I loved the bright pea flavor from the pea tips and could have eaten this whole plate!

The star of the meal was the Crab in House Special Sauce-秘製蟹(生麵底) with a nest of noodles under the crab head. The crab was nice and sweet while the sauce was garlicky but a touch on the thick/slippery side. This was quickly devoured by everyone at the table!

The next signature dish up was Honey Garlic Spareribs and Deep Fried Shrimp Balls-蒜子蜜汁骨炸蝦球. This was a hit at the table. The shrimp balls were nice and crisp while the filling was nice and fluffy and they weren’t to greasy. Making up the bulk of the plate were the crispy honey garlic spareribs, nice and crisp and not to garlicky. With the bone left in it added some great flavor to the meat.

Time for some fish, Deep Fried Sole Fillet-骨香龍利球. Dressed with chili this fish was delicious, the crispy outside and spice definitely stood out for me. The flavor of the fish was good and the broccoli was a nice touch to break up the richness of the dish.

Deep Fried Duck Wrapped in Taro-香酥鴨 was our last protein of the night. This was something that I have never had before so I dug in with enthusiasm! The duck was shredded like pulled pork and in the middle of the taro which was on the bland side which is the nature of taro.

Here are the Mini Egg Tarts-迷你鮮蛋撻. Again another staple of dim sum and unfortunately not one of my favorites, at the table the consensus was that these were pretty standard.

Something new to me was the Egg Pastry with Dried Shredded Coconut-冰花椰絲雞蛋散 , it also had honey on it. Shaped like big bow ties these were majorly sweet and should be enjoyed right when they are delivered to the table otherwise they get kind of soggy.

So when these were brought to the table I was immediately curious of what they were. There Deep Fried Green Tea Sticky Rice Ball with Sesame-綠茶馬沙糍 they were alright but a bit on the sweet side for me. The rice was sticky for sure and the sesame added a great nutty flavor and my favorite part of the dish.

A traditional dessert is Tofu Pudding-山水豆腐花 and we got a nice big container of it. They serve it with a sweet syrup that you spoon on it otherwise the flavor is really bland and let’s just say not very yummy, I’ve had similar desserts at Kingyo and really like the silkiness of the dish.

The last dessert of the night was Baked Tapioca Pudding-西米焗布甸. I really like tapioca but have never had it in a baked pudding so I was also really eager to try this, in the middle later they put red bean which was so so for me but I really liked this overall.

I had a great time at my 1st Chinese Bites dinner and really enjoyed the offerings from Golden Ocean Seafood and would recommend it to anyone for some solid authentic Chinese food.